History

"Paramount among measures that will liberate and augment the nation is the establishment of a bank, utterly modern and national in identity, born directly out of the people's respect and confidence..."

These words uttered by Mustafa Kemal before the Council of Ministers which summoned in July 1924, express his aspirations for the foundation of a national bank.

Foundation

The inception of the country's first truly national bank following the promulgation of the Republic dates back to 26 August 1924, mandated by Atatürk, consequent to the First Economy Congress in İzmir. Isbank begun to operate with two branches and 37 staff under the leadership of Celal Bayar, the first General Manager to run the bank.

A Historic Mission

The Grand Victory which preceded the proclamation of the Republic order entailed a period during which resolutions to the state's economic and social problems were sought. There was a growing and deeply rooted sentiment signalling the need for a truly national establishment and the birth of a banking system that was capable of the financing means to back up economic activities, managing funds accumulated as a result of policies providing savings incentives and where necessary extending resources which could trigger industrial impetus.

A Bold Untertaking

The birth of a new country depended heavily on the presence of banking activities nation wide, the drive for industrial development, animating national savings, financing fundamental economic breakthroughs and the means to meet financial borrowings. The aftermath of World War I culminated in a wide array of progress, including financial services which soon took off with an accelerated pace leading to technological advances and the designation of previously unheard methods and criteria governing business. Turkey was to suffer deprivation from such innovations and lacked qualified and skilled human resources. Isbank began operating at a time of such economic strain.

Since then....

Isbank sustains continuous growth committed to its founding principles, restoring its strength and vigour with each passing year. The Bank tops the list of Turkey's most respected and trustful enterprises, while carving itself a place among the world's largest corporations. Isbank, a publicly traded firm since its inception enjoys a peerless stakeholder base. 40.73 % of Isbank shares are held by Isbank's own private Pension Fund, 28.09 % are Ataturk's shares that are represented by Republican People's Party and 31.18 % are free float. In May 1998, 12.3% of the Bank's total shares previously held by the Turkish Treasury have been sold to national and international investors in a highly successful public offering. Today the shares are listed on the Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE). The Bank's market capitalization valued at TL 21,672,356 thousand by the end of June 2012 is the fourth one among listed companies in Turkey. As of 30th June 2012, Isbank's market value constitutes 4.69 % of the ISE market value where 380 corporations were traded and whose market value was TL 461,745,506 thousand.

Isbank's Primary Innovations

• The following are examples of the Bank's forerunning achievements:
• Introduction of child's coin bank's which has triggered and made mainstream propensity to save in the society
• The use of cheques for daily transactions
• Initiating electronic banking in the country with a sound technological groundwork
• Introduction of ATM's. Isbank was the first in the industry to coin a generic name for teller machines
• Overseas branches in Europe and Cyprus
• Saving accounts
• Mutual funds
• Operation of an in house securities division
• Instant Banking service since July 1996
• Deployment of Netmatik machines (Kiosks), to enhance online banking among clients without access to PC's
• Introduction of mobile banking on WAP enabled GSM phones
• Mobile banking and call center supported with 3G technology
• Bioidentity (Fingervein ID), a biometric device integrated into the ATMs.

An Electronic Breakthrough in Banking

The Bank deployed one of the world's most advanced on-line real time technologies in the light of head spinning innovations and developments that have influenced the banking sector following the 80's. Today(*) the Bank's,

• 4,641 ATMs
• 767 Kiosks
• 1,197 domestic branches
• 17 overseas branches
• Head Office
• Isbank AG in Germany which operates with 16 branches across Europe
• 1 Representative office in China
• 1 Representative office in Egypt
• İşbank Russia which operates with 15 branches

Such an advanced technology enables Isbank to run real time transactions and maintain uniformity of services throughout its network.

The state of the art hardware and software technologies deployed throughout the organization complement the Bank's on line real time operations and efficient self-service banking options all of which have equipped the Bank with an exemplar image in the global banking industry.

(*) As of June 30, 2012.